drive axle bent

[enrique]

I' recently buyed an wr 400 98 and it was oil leaking out of the seal of the drive axle. Therefor i replaced the oil seal, the collar and the o-ring in the collar. But yesterday i drove the bike and it still leaks oil (very much).

Is it possible that the axle is bent or are there other possible reasons (i hope so)??

Sorry for this "belgian" english, i hope someone can help me, i'm desperet ?

[Rip Wheeler]

I' recently buyed an wr 400 98 and it was oil leaking out of the seal of the drive axle. Therefor i replaced the oil seal, the collar and the o-ring in the collar. But yesterday i drove the bike and it still leaks oil (very much).

Is it possible that the axle is bent or are there other possible reasons (i hope so)??

Sorry for this "belgian" english, i hope someone can help me, i'm desperet ?

I dont know if a countershaft can bend. Its hardened. I'd think it would just break. I know, way back in the early days, I had a 1980 KX125 and it just went into neutral. Broken counter shaft. Is your chain overly tight? And when you check it for slack, make sure you compress the rear suspension to where the swing arm is at its longest length. The longest length is when you can draw an imaginary line from dead center on your front sprocket to dead center on your read and that imaginary line should cross over dead center on the swing arm bolt. If its too tight, then it could really pull the countershaft and create a leak. Also, sometimes the collar may require some RTV in the splines or oil can migrate up though the splines. All thinkgs to look at.

[Hamish]

I have seen a bent output shaft on a YZ250, but that was caused by a broken chain. Bent or not, it shouldnt leak. A seal has more than enough give in it's lip to take up any 'un noticable bend' in the shaft. I think it's safe to say that if you can rotate that shaft by hand when the bike is in nuetral that the shaft is close enough to strait to not cause an oil leak. Without wishing to offend your ability, I would suggest that you have made a mistake when installing the seal and/or o ring. I just did the o ring on my gearbox. As you install the collar, do it in a twisting motoin as to not damage the o-ring. You should feel the collar become stiff to turn when it has gone inside the oring.

Check your o-ring! I am curious to know how you got the old o ring out.

[Dan_Lorenze]

I had this happen to my KTM too (pretty common), I replaced the seal and like Toyota said and I put a lot of RTV all around the area... It fixed the problem... Maybe you should try to re-install the seal using some RTV sealant, I bet it'll hold..